Panti :: 16th Jan 2011

Rhinoceros Hornbills were not seen or heard last Sunday despite 5 hours of waiting at their usual spot from as early as 7:30 in the morning! :( 

But fortunately quite a number of species turned up to cheer me up and it was quite a special day indeed as 5 Trogons were sighted along the main bunker trail, two pairs of Scarlet-rumped Trogons and a male Diard's Trogon.

Diard's Trogon (Harpactes diardii)

Kesumba Bukit * バラエリキヌバネドリ * Rosenringtrogon

Trogon de Diard * dravcík obojkový * Трогон Диарда * นกขุนแผนหัวดำ

Spectacled Bulbul (Pycnonotus erythrophthalmos)

Merbah Mata Merah Kecil * 小褐鹎  *  コアカメチャイロヒヨドリ * ông lau nâu nhỏ

Bulbul oeil-de-feu *  bylbyl hájový * นกปรอดเล็กท้องเทา

Chestnut-bellied Malkoha (Phaenicophaeus sumatranus)

Cenuk Kecil * 棕腹地鹃 * オニグロバンケンモドキ * Phướn

Malcoha à ventre roux * malkoha hnedobruchá * นกบั้งรอกเล็กท้องแดง

A female Philentoma made a 5sec appearance here but it was not seen again, and it actually led us into this trail to search for it and luckily the Scarlet-rumped Trogons were sighted perching quietly ~20' from my setup.

male

Scarlet-rumped Trogon

Kesumba Puteri* 红腰咬鹃 * コシアカキヌバネドリ

Trogon de Duvaucel *  dravcík malý * 

Красноспинный Трогон * 

นกขุนแผนตะโพกแดง

Female

The Red-crowned Barbets are probably the most common and friendly among all the barbet species in Panti. If you play calls and they don't show up it is probably your wrong choice of mp3 player and speaker!

Five of them came feeding on a fruiting three and I must admit it was my first sighting of 5 RCBs in Panti. Often you get to see them as an individual. Calling other species tends to attract them as well, so it is that easy!

Red-crowned Barbet (Megalaima rafflesii)

Takur Kepala Merah * 花彩拟䴕 * ニシキゴシキドリ

Barbu bigarré * barbet cervenohlavý *  นกโพระดกหลากสี

By noon another pair of SRTs were sighted just by the side of the dirt road at low level 50m before the White-crowned Forktail's Corner! And this pair were more friendly than the earlier ones as they stay put despite we set up our gear barely 15' away in front of them. I believe they were just waiting for the right moment to mate! 

A birder from USA must be glad and excited to have met us while we were photographing the SRTs and our conversation attracted the attention of a female Banded Kingfisher, whom perched right above us for a brief moment before disappearing into the forest. The male BKF was calling nearby but was not sighted.

Banded Kingfisher (Lacedo pulchella)

Pekaka Rimba  *  横斑翠鸟 * カザリショウビン * Sả vằn

 Martin-chasseur mignon * rybárikovec jarabý * Полосатый зимородок * นกกะเต็นลาย

@White-crowned Forktail Corner! Waiting anxiously for the male BKF to show up! :(

As usual, a trip to Panti without checking out the First Stream is a "no no" for me! 8 Duskys were already waiting on my arrival and this time they perched lower, they made less noise and I was waiting patiently for them to surprise me....

Dusky Broadbill (Corydon sumatranus)

Takau Besar *  暗阔嘴鸟 * ガマヒロハシ * Mỏ rộng đen

Eurylaime corydon * loboš tmavý * Суматранский ширококлюв * นกพญาปากกว้างสีดำ

And eventually, this particular Dusky made the unusual low pass and perched barely 5' above my head! Unbelievable!

Panti :: 9th Jan 2011

Weather was extremely gloomy last weekend, so before i set out my journey to Panti i hesitated for a while if i should make the trip at all.


But i wanted the Rhinoceros Hornbill, at least for some improvement shots....


By 8:30am, 8 of them came to the same tree as sighted previously, but i had just walked almost 200m away a few mins ago! By the time i rushed back, they were starting to leave one by one! :(

5 Chestnut-bellied Malkohas came to entertain me just as i was pondering if the hornbills would change their mind and fly right back to the same tree again. Interestingly the Malkohas were busy mating and hopping around non-stop, and i was only allowed two shots, without the mating scene of course!

Chestnut-bellied Malkoha (Phaenicophaeus sumatranus)

Cenuk Kecil * 棕腹地鹃 * オニグロバンケンモドキ * Phướn

Malcoha à ventre roux * malkoha hnedobruchá * นกบั้งรอกเล็กท้องแดง

Two Asian Brown flycatchers were near the scene as well, but they were extremely skittish.....

@ the first stream....

The Dusky Broadbills, Chequer-throated Woodpeckers and Racket-tailed Drongos were already waiting by the side by the time i reached the first stream, which is ~5km into the main bunker trail. 

Dusky Broadbill (Corydon sumatranus)

Takau Besar *  暗阔嘴鸟 * ガマヒロハシ * Mỏ rộng đen

Eurylaime corydon * loboš tmavý * Суматранский ширококлюв * นกพญาปากกว้างสีดำ

Chequer-throated Woodpecker (Picus mentalis)

Belatuk Ranting *  斑喉绿啄木鸟 * チャバネアオゲラ

Pic gorgeret * žlna ozdobná * นกหัวขวานคอลาย

@100m after the first stream.......


The calls of white-rumped Shama is probably the most frequently heard in Panti forest, but they are not always seen though. 

White-rumped Shama (Copsychus malabaricus)

Murai Rimba * 白腰鹊鸲 * アカハラシキチョウ * Chích chòe lửa

 Shama à croupion blanc * šáma trojfarebná * นกกางเขนดง

So when a WR Shama was seen singing in the open, I setup my gear quickly, took some shots, then walk a round leisurely to enjoy some fresh air leaving the Shama singling on its own, and I suddenly saw this Red-naped Trogon just 10' in front of me.

Unfortunately just one quick shot it flew into the forest....guess it must be mad at me for not taking its picture earlier!

i made several attempts later to lure the RNT out again, but instead I got a flock of Tailorbirds and Pin-striped Tit-babblers came begging for some portraits...these are small and active birds and getting them in frame alone is a real challenge.

Striped Tit Babbler (Macronous gularis)

Rimba Berjalur * 纹胸鹛 * ムナフムシクイチメドリ * Chích chạch má vàng

Timalie à gorge striée *  timália žltobruchá * นกกินแมลงอกเหลือง

 Dark-necked Tailorbird (Orthotomus atrogularis)

Perenjak Leher Hitam *  黑喉缝叶莺 * ノドグロサイホウチョウ * Chích bông cánh vàng

 Couturière à col noir * krajcírik ciernohrdlý *  นกกระจิบคอดำ

And on my way out the trail, i was hoping to catch a glimpse of the hornbills again but i got these instead,  around 100m after the Elephant Trail.

 Yellow-bellied bulbul

 Chequer-throated woodpecker

Greater Racquet-tailed Drongo

Chestnut-bellied Malkoha (Phaenicophaeus sumatranus), Tj Piai

The Chestnut-bellied Malkohas are quite frequently seen in Panti Bird Sanctuary along the main bunker trail. But they tend to perch high, and often not in the open. I have photographed quite a few times but wasn't very happy with the imgs captured.

In my 4th trip to Tj Piai on the 25th Sept 2009, we spotted 2 CBMs of unusual behavior near the jetty. They were shuttling non-stop to-and -flo across our path and just inches away from our setup and bodies.

And on two incidents its wings were touching my back and tripod rexpectively, as witnessed by my friends, Boon, GCWong, and Ong.

Many times we were trying to avoid being crashed by them in the limited space of the jetty narrow walkway!

One of the them was with food in mouth, the other was just calling non-stop. Luckily for all of us, after all the commotion, they got tired and perched for few mins at eye-level just 15' from our setup

*Imgs abv were shot with D300 500mm VR F4 TC1.4